Improvement in car-brakes



J. STEPHENSON.

CAR-BRAKES;

No. 190,258; Patented May 1, 1877.-

N. PETERS, FHOTO-UTHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON D) C1 UNITED STATES PATENTOrrro JOHN STEPHENSON, OF- NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 190,258, dated May 1,1877; application filed October 19, 1876.

To all whom t'tmay concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN STEPHENSON, of New York, in the county of NewYork and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Street-Car Brakes; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe-same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, and toletters of reference I marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification, in which Figure 1 represents a plan of the under side ofthe running-gear of a streetcar and bodytimbers to which my improvementhas been applied, and Fig. 2 a side elevation of the same.

-When a street-car is suddenly stopped by the application of the brakes,the front end of the car is drawn downward and the rear end thrustupward, causing the passengers to be unpleasantly thrown forward.

My remedy is to place the brakes between the wheels, so that upon theapplication of the brakes the tendency will be to thrust upward theforward end of the car and pull downward the back end.

After being somewhat worn, the joints of the brake-work become loose,and permit the clogs to swing sidewise, so that they fail to strike thewheels, thereby rendering the brakes inoperative. This evil is augmentedby the diagonal direction of the thrust of the rods which connect thebrake-shoes with the lover.

I remedy these evils entirely by the application of a light and flexiblestay-rod, chain, or other equivalent device, which I make to run fromthe car-bottom diagonally downward and connect with the brake-bar, bythe use of which the brake-bar is deprived of end motion.

The brake-bar lever A, brake-bars B, clogs O, and hangers D, andchain-rods H may all be of the usual form; but instead of hanging theclogs before the wheelsi. 6., at their'external sides-they are hung atthe inner faces of the'wheels, so that the clogs operate between thewheels. This location requires the clogsto be pressed against the wheelsby a push motion of the rods F, which connect the lever and brake orclog bars, and not by pull, as is customary.

This push motion requires a different form of connecting-rod F, anddifierent mode of' adjustment. The end of the .rod F which connects withthe lever A is jointed, as usual; and the other end of thesame rod has asimilar head, making a similar free joint with'the eyebolt a, whichpasses through the brake-bar. This eyebolt must be adjustable, either bya nut on the eyebolt at each'side of the bar, so that the eyebolt may bemoved to' or from the connecting-rod, increasing or diminishing thedistance between the brake bar and lever, as desired; or the sameeffect, in a preferable way, may be produced by screwing the eyeboltthrough the farther side of the brake-bar,

with a jam-nut at that side, as illustrated in v section lines in Fig.1.

To prevent each brake-bar from being thrust endwise by the diagonalthrust of its-connecting-rod F, the washer-shaped end of a smallstay-rod, G, is put on the eyebolt of each, between the jam-nut e andthe brake-bar, .thus forming a washer for the nut, while the other end,which is also provided with a similar washer-sh aped end, is firmlybolted to the bottom of the car, substantially as shown in Fig. 1. v

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the clogs O and their bars B with the actuatinghorizontal lever A, all being suspended at the inner sides of thecar-wheels, and-the clog-bars connected with said lever by shortconnecting-rods F, having free joints at both ends, so thatthe power maybe transmitted by a push motion through the'connecting-rods to theclog-bars and clogs, substantially. as described.

2. The combination of the lever A with the clog-bars B byconnecting-rods F, having free joints at both ends, substantially asdescribed.

3. The combination of the clog-bars and connecting-rods with adjustableeyebolts, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of the clog-barswith diagonal stays, arranged toconnect the clogbars with the bottom of the car-body, to deprive theclog-bars of end motion, substantially as described.

5. The combination of the lever A, connect ing-rods' F, adjustableeyebolts a, diagonal stays G, clog-bars B, and clogs O, suspendedbetween the two pairs of wheels of a streetcar, the whole forming anefficient system of car-brakes.

6. The combination of the chain-rods H with the lever A, connecting-rodsF, adjustable eyebolts a, diagonal stays G, clog-bars B, and clogs O,suspended between the two pairs of wheels of a street-car, the wholeforming an efficient system of oar-brakes.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I affix my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

JOHN STEPHENSON. Witnesses:

WM. J. WALKER, STUART A. STEPHENSON.

